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Xu F, Liu M, Liao Y, Zhou Y, Zhang P, Zeng Y, Liu Z. Improvement of anticancer effect of berberine by salt formation modifications. Phytomedicine 2022; 104:154314. [PMID: 35841665 DOI: 10.1016/j.phymed.2022.154314] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2022] [Revised: 06/17/2022] [Accepted: 07/01/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Berberine is a quaternary isoquinoline alkaloid that possesses a significant therapeutic effect on a variety of cancers. However, due to poor bioavailability, an increased dose is often required to achieve therapeutic goals. To improve the activities of natural berberine, most modifications were focused on the positive isoquinoline unit by grafting long aliphatic chains or heterocycles. However, the negative part is ignored. At this point, the strategy of salt formation modifications with short- and medium-chain fatty acids was proposed in this article. PURPOSE Using salt modification to enhance the antitumor activity of berberine and explore the mechanism. METHODS Four short- and medium-chain fatty acid salts of berberine were prepared from berberine hydrochloride by salt formation modification with the sodium salt of butyric, caproic, octanoic, and decanoic acid, respectively. The cytotoxicity of four berberine salts on B16-F10, A549, HepG2, and U373 cancer cell lines was explored. Through cell localization, Mitochondrial membrane potential assay, and Western blotting analysis explored the mechanism of berberine salt-induced apoptosis. Its anticancer activity in vivo was demonstrated by the mouse xenograft model. RESULTS The four berberine fatty acid salts exhibited an enhanced inhibitory effect on B16-F10, A549, HepG2, and U373 cancer cell lines, particularly on B16-F10 cells. Meanwhile, the four berberine fatty acid salts can inhibit the migration of B16-F10 cells. The four berberine fatty acid salts induce cancer cell apoptosis through the mitochondrial pathway, which was confirmed by the mitochondrial colocalization, the decreased mitochondrial membrane potential as well as activation of caspase-3, cytochrome C (Cyt-C), and down-regulated expression of B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2). Most importantly, the four berberine fatty acid salts inhibited tumor growth in the in vivo B16-F10 melanoma model without generating side effects intraperitoneally. CONCLUSIONS This study revealed that salt formation modification may be an effective strategy to optimize the anticancer property of berberine hydrochloride and demonstrated the four berberine fatty acid salts induced apoptosis through the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fengjiao Xu
- Key Laboratory of the Assembly and Application of Organic Functional Molecules of Hunan Province, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, 410081, China; Laboratory of Chemical Biology and Traditional Chinese Medicine Research (Ministry of Education of China), Hunan Normal University, Changsha, 410081, China
| | - Meiyan Liu
- Key Laboratory of the Assembly and Application of Organic Functional Molecules of Hunan Province, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, 410081, China; Laboratory of Chemical Biology and Traditional Chinese Medicine Research (Ministry of Education of China), Hunan Normal University, Changsha, 410081, China
| | - Yating Liao
- Key Laboratory of the Assembly and Application of Organic Functional Molecules of Hunan Province, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, 410081, China; Laboratory of Chemical Biology and Traditional Chinese Medicine Research (Ministry of Education of China), Hunan Normal University, Changsha, 410081, China
| | - Ya Zhou
- Key Laboratory of the Assembly and Application of Organic Functional Molecules of Hunan Province, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, 410081, China; Laboratory of Chemical Biology and Traditional Chinese Medicine Research (Ministry of Education of China), Hunan Normal University, Changsha, 410081, China
| | - Peng Zhang
- The National & Local Joint Engineering Laboratory of Animal Peptide Drug Development, College of Life Sciences, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, Hunan, 410081, China
| | - Youlin Zeng
- Key Laboratory of the Assembly and Application of Organic Functional Molecules of Hunan Province, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, 410081, China; Laboratory of Chemical Biology and Traditional Chinese Medicine Research (Ministry of Education of China), Hunan Normal University, Changsha, 410081, China.
| | - Zhonghua Liu
- The National & Local Joint Engineering Laboratory of Animal Peptide Drug Development, College of Life Sciences, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, Hunan, 410081, China
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